Are you a a John Marrs fan? This book is just brilliant.if you haven’t read this author before what are you doing with your life?! Seriously, you are missing out. The Family Experiment is a twisted, dark page turner that I will be thinking about for a long time to come. It is like a long extended episode of Black Mirror… yep it is insane!!

Imagine a time in the not so distant future where you can be a parent to a virtual child. Yep… a metaverse kid. The Family Experiment is a new reality TV show that runs 24/7 and allows the public to comment and vote on what they are seeing. 5 couples and one single man compete to raise their AI child in front of the whole world. The winner will get to keep their child or win prize money to pay for raising a real world child.

Now things are not simple, they never are. These contestants all have something that they don’t want the public to know about. Being a parent is are, even in the metaverse.

This book is full of shocking twists, cliff hanging chapter endings and some very unlikeable characters. You just have to read this to believe it, set in the same universe as previous books, John Marrs shows us a scary insight to what our future could very easily look like,

Thanks so much to Harlequin Trade Publishing for my advanced copy of this book to read. US release date July 9th.

This was an interesting thought experiment of what would happen if you could raise an AI child in virtual reality. Sometimes, the characters came across as a bit flat, serving to warn the reader about the dangers of this new frontier rather than to explore the nuances of human nature. Even so, there were interesting (though somewhat far-fetched) twists that held my interest.

There is a long list of reasons why John Marrs has a cult-like following, and this book now tops that list. The Family Experiment is set in the same universe as The One and The Passengers, so if you haven’t read these two first GO BACK NOW AND READ THEM (this book will spoil major plot points in the previous books, and you’ll enjoy the references a whole lot more).

For fans of John Marrs, this book won’t disappoint. However, this is a heavy one and feels like it could be a full length Black Mirror episode. The opening of this book is not for the faint of heart, and there’s only more dark twists and turns to come. Overall, this is a very clever story that kept me guessing without reaching into absurdity. And there is a decent balance of good and bad as story lines were wrapped up.

Like its two predecessors, this book alternates chapters of several different characters/families and can be a little challenging to remember each family’s backstory. I found it easier to keep track of these characters than the alternating storylines of The One, though. I also applaud the author’s diversity in characters across his books.

A huge thank you to NetGalley and the author for this ARC. I voluntarily am leaving this review of my own opinions.

What a wild ride this storyline was. I now feel like I need to go back and read the marriage act because I enjoyed this world so much. This was twisted and insidious- everyone had an agenda and an angle and no one was telling the truth. Really a showcase of what humanity could devolve into if power is left unchecked.

John Marrs does it again with another great book! This book is full of twists and turns but it was a book you don’t want to put down when you start it. It’s interesting to see the journey the characters take and the concept of a virtual baby being created. This isn’t like anything else I have read but I would recommend others checking it out

“Some families are virtually perfect…”

What a thought-provoking speculative thriller!

I’m not big on speculative fiction, but the premise and the author sold me. This is John Marrs fifth speculative fiction and although I haven’t read all of his books, I still enjoyed looking for the Easter eggs.

This novel features a reality TV show and 11 hopeful parents who are raising virtual children in the Metaverse. The show was created in response to the population increase and the catastrophic outfall which meant that raising a family had become impossible. For those wishing to experience parenthood, Virtual Children is an alternative. This monthly subscription service allows couples to raise a virtual child from birth to 18 years old and don haptic suits and virtual reality headsets to log in to access their child’s accelerated growth over a nine-month period. The ‘best parent’ prize (as voted by millions of viewers) is (1) the right to keep their virtual child or (2) risk it all for a chance at raising a real baby with the £250,000 prize money.

What a fantastic, diverse cast! I felt for the Taylor-Georgious, the Finns, the Wilsons, the Carters, the Macmillans and the single dad, Hudson Wright. My allegiance flip-flopped and I was rooting for all of them at one point or another depending on which secrets were revealed! I loved the Grapevine posts and chats as they kept me invested when my mind waned with the sci-fi overload.

Marrs is a master storyteller! Proof is in the pudding; I don’t read speculative fiction, I don’t have children and I dislike reality TV.

I was gifted this copy by Harlequin Trade Publishing, Hanover Square Press and NetGalley and was under no obligation to provide a review.

In a world where people decide not to have children because of the financial cost, a new reality gameshow is unveiled to the world in which couples raise a rapidly-aging child together for nine months, all competing to be the best parents so they have a shot at keeping the child they raised together.

I am a huge fan of John Marrs' speculative fiction and was anticipating this release for months! This did not disappoint. Fast paced, often times leaving chapters on a cliffhanger, and unapologetically triggering and controversial, this novel explores the possibility of raising a virtual family, and the price society has to pay to make this dream a reality.

Smart, fascinating, and utterly unputdownable, The Family Experiment will shock readers to their very core.

4.5/5.0

John Marrs has done it again. This may not have been an on the edge of your seat thriller, but it was a slow burn that was still hard to put down. I haven’t read his other books in this universe, but with all the Easter eggs placed throughout the book it makes me want to read the rest.

Imagine a new reality show where contestants get to raise a virtual child from birth to age 18, where the winners can either keep their child or take prize money to start a family in the Real World. This is the possibility in The Family Experiment. But things aren’t quite as they seem, and secrets will be revealed.

I felt extremely honored to get an advanced copy of this book! John Marrs has become one of my favorite authors and I still haven’t read everything he’s written. He’s brilliant! His dark and twisty books are just brilliant.

The Family Experiment takes place on the same world as The One, where raising a family and having a family is just too expensive. A reality show with families raising an AI child and the family that gets the most votes gets to keep their AI child or the prize money.

It took me a hot minute to get into this book. There were a lot of characters to keep straight at first. He does an excellent job of detailing how this could really happen and my mind couldn’t wrap around the virtual metaverse and John Marrs very creative mind puts you right there!

I don’t know if this is my favorite book of his but I so very much enjoyed it! It is so well written and the details I just devoured. I am looking forward to this being a mini series if they could please make that happen!!!

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for this copy!!!

Brilliant! Once again John Marrs left me speechless!🙌

Are you ready to enter the Meta-verse? Where anything you want can be yours? Any experience you’ve dreamed of is at your fingertips?

Want to raise a family, but unable to due to financial or physical limitations? Well, how about a meta-child in the meta-verse?

In order to get the public behind this new craze…I mean technology, it’s offered up to the masses as a live stream reality show.
A show where different couples and one single man will raise an AI baby who leaps through milestones to adulthood in months rather than years.
The public votes on the winner who can then opt to either walk away with money to start their own true family, or keep their Meta-child.

How does he do it? How does John Marrs come up with the most creative and unique premises?

I was all in right from the start, relishing every delicious page all the way to the end! Even with a large cast of characters I had no issue at all keeping the couples and their stories straight. So if I can do it….

Shock after shock! I can’t tell you how many times my jaw dropped.

This may very well be my all-time favorite John Marrs reads. (Even though I recall saying that when I finished The One. And I’ll likely be saying it again when he releases his next!😂

One of my favorite thrillers for 2024! Is it on your list? Well, it should be!

Thank you to NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing

The Family Experiment is a mash up of a game show and reality television show Teen Mom. The twist - the viewers can watch and give feedback 24/7. As I’m sure you know, parents LOVE when strangers tell them how to parent their children. It could make the most sane of people go insane, and well… does John Marrs ever create a character without a suitcase full of baggage? Marr’s has an uncanny skill of taking the bizarre and making it believable. It’s terrifying really..

The Family Experiment was jaw dropping from start to finish and can’t recommend it enough!
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

John Marrs is one of my favorite authors. His books are unputdownable and this one did NOT disappoint. If you have read The Passengers and The One, this book is for you! It’s set in the same world. This book is set just enough in reality that you are constantly questioning, “what if?”

I loved Marrs’s The One so I was excited to read The Family Experiment. While I enjoyed The One more, Experiment was a fantastic thriller! Marrs’s ideas are so original, and I love that his books are never what they seem. The twists are always so insane. Highly recommend!

This is my first John Marrs book and it will not be my last. I loved the writing style and felt that the future of it wasn't too far off! Reality TV and AI teamed up together doesn't seem as dystopian as it did a decade ago.

John Marrs is my go to author for speculative fiction. They read like thrillers and close to home. This latest edition is no different as it gives you lots of food for thought. It’s intricate and so well plotted but dragged out a bit for the last 50 pages. I do think it could have been edited down a bit but again such a cohesive well plotted tale. His books always make for good book club books.

So, the premise is off-putting to me, but I’m sure it would be fascinating to readers who are more enthralled with the while virtual reality/artificial intelligence world. The world is getting too overcrowded, it’s too expensive to have kids, but with a few clicks, you can have your own virtual child! A U.K.-based company will design your prefect virtual child based on you and your partner’s specifications, and you can “access” this child via a virtual headset in the “metaverse.” And because the company wants to make as much money out of this as possible, they’ve created a reality TV show featuring five couples and one single dad, who will compete against one another, trying to win viewers’ votes as the best parents. This process uses an accelerated timeline, with the contestants raising their virtual offspring from birth to age 18 in only nine months. Just like “Survivor,” parents are voted out of the competition. The grand prize winner(s), can either keep their virtual child or take a cash prize to use toward starting a real family.

I like sci-fi and speculative fiction (loved the recent Netflix adaptation of 3 Body Problem), but this was just a little too creepy for my taste.

Thanks to NetGalley and Hanover Square Press for the ARC.

As usual Marrs latest novel sent me on an emotional roller coaster. I was so excited to get an advanced copy of The Family Experiment. The chapters were short and kept you hooked. I became invested in each of the families and wanted to know what made each tick. Six families are chosen to raise a metachild from birth to age 18. They’re to face all sorts of challenges that parents would face in the real world. At the finale they must decide to take the cash prize or keep their child “alive”.Soon enough the families started to reveal their darkest secret as the novel got closer to “finale night”. Parts of the novel I yelled at and others broke my heart. What’s real or not? It’s up to the families to decide. I’d highly recommend this to anyone who loves thrillers as well as those who are interested in technology.

Twisted reality show takes place in the Metaverse with couples competing against each other to either keep their AI child or have them dissolve and use the prize money to start their own real world family. The backstories of each of the couples keep this book moving at an exciting pace. I had a hard time putting it down. Thanks NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing/Hanover Square Press for the advanced copy!

John Marrs at his absolute finest - I love these dystopian future books he writes, and this series is just amazing. Highly recommend to a thriller lover who also loves a good ol' dystopia. This raises so many questions, too! A very thought provoking novel.

The Family Experiment by John Marrs

With overcrowding and the economy in turmoil, having a child is extremely expensive. Jobs are being outsourced to AI and with the loss of jobs, it becomes even harder to have the money to start a family. When a company in the UK devises a new reality show, which would give the people selected an opportunity to compete and the winners will get options to start their own families. In a world similar to The Sims, this VR world will draw you in.

“Here at Awakening Entertainment, we have developed a fully immersive experience for those who want to start a family, without the Real World constraints, for a fraction of the cost and within a safe environment. Each of our MetaChildren uses extensive high-quality, ethically sourced datasets to deliver a child with a unique set of traits and an individual personality. This means they can accurately represent the child you might have had in the Real World.”

The Contestants consist of
Dimitri and Zoe Taylor-Georgiou
Woody and Tina Finn
Cadman N’Yu & Gabriel MacMillan
Selena & Jaden Wilson
Rufus Green & Kitty Carter
Hudson Wright - Single Dad

“‘The MetaChildren programme is going to help millions of families who can’t afford kids of their own. It’ll change the world.”

As you get to know each contestant, you learn the reasons behind them wanting to start a family. But with all reality television, there will be challenges thrown at contestants. As the competition continues, secrets are revealed, leaving you wanting more.

I loved the world that John Marrs created, weaving in current fears of AI into this fast paced thriller. This is definitely a thought provoking ride from beginning to end. The characters are well developed. Once I started reading, I didn’t want to put it down until the very end. At first I felt like I was mixing up the characters, but as the book progressed, I didn’t have that problem. You definitely begin to root for certain parents. The book creates a myriad of questions, and will quickly suck you into a rabbit hole.

This has easily become my favorite John Marrs book. Fans of Daniel Hurst and Freida McFadden will love the twists and reveals in this sci-fi reality style thriller. The Family Experiment will draw you in and immerse you in a world and experience that will make you lose sleep because you can’t put it down until the last page.